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Ex-mayor heads to jail for paving mother’s driveway with city funds

The former mayor said it was a “stupid mistake.” (Credit: Channel 2 Action News)
By Ellen Eldridge
Sept 21, 2017

Former Nicholson Mayor Ronnie Maxwell was sentenced to serve time in the Jackson County jail for using taxpayer money to pave private property, Channel 2 Action News reported Thursday.

Maxwell pleaded guilty in July to one charge of theft by taking related to using taxpayer money for personal purposes, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

MORE: Ex-mayor pleads guilty to using tax money to pave mom's driveway

In 2015, Maxwell used $10,000 in special purpose local-option sales tax money to pave his mother’s driveway.

The former mayor of the Jackson County city said the paved blacktop used to be a public road, but a judge said the 68-year-old betrayed the public’s trust, Channel 2 reported.

Maxwell was sentenced to 90 days in jail, nine months of house arrest and four years of probation, but because he is in poor health and has a surgery planned, Maxwell began house arrest Thursday and will head to jail in October.

He admitted to the judge he’d made a “stupid mistake,” Channel 2 reported.

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